Colombia to Privatize Ecogas

The Colombian government and Spain's Santander Central Hispano bank and its Colombian unit, Santander Investment, are to sign an agreement for the management of the privatization of the natural gas transport company Ecogas, a government spokesperson said. Santander was awarded the contract at the end of January and is currently negotiating the terms of the contract with the national planning department (DNP).

The government decided to privatize Ecogas in early 2003 because the upstream and downstream areas of the gas business are already in private hands, the spokesperson said. Colombia's other major gas transporter Promigas, which serves the Atlantic coast, is private.